Washing Machines vs School Attendance (2 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

I live in Mexico City which is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. I'd say 70-90% of clothes are washed by hand here still including by myself occasionally, and yes still using clotheslines. I really don't understand the backlash to my comment. People manage fine here by not missing school because they don't have washing machines.

I think there's a bit of disconnect between your point and the reaction to it. The fact is that people have long been able to do laundry without more expensive resources. It doesn't matter if you're in Mexico City or Appalachia or a Chicago housing project . . . people can do the laundry.

So perhaps you're right that not having clean clothes is merely a symptom of broader failures that are going on in our culture. That said, if putting in some laundry machines demonstrably keeps kids in school, it sounds like a meaningful endeavor.

 

[Saint_Ward]

It's a good idea, but people seem to forget that washing clothes by hand is still a way of life for much (most?) of the world and a viable option that people seem to completely ignore.

I look at it this way. Why make the kids suffer for the parents poor choices or having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. You can attribute that to poor choices or just being stuck without education.

Sorry kid, you lost the parent lotto and are doomed to have a crappy life.

No amount of telling the parents of that kid to "do more, do better, be smarter" is going to fix that. So, in some cases the community steps in to correct the issue. I can't imagine doing some laundry at a school is a large cost to them, when you look at their major costs. Also, they get paid by the state for attendance. Sounds like an easy way to make sure they get the state money they should.

p.s. I've washed laundry by hand when needed. Sure, more could do it, but that's missing the point of what the school can control.

 

[saintfan-n-alex]

I know when I moved out on my own in early 80s many on apts didn't have w/d many apts didn't have hookups

I remember numerous times I would suddenly remember my laundry and go down to apt washateria and find my clothes in corner sometimes wet was my fault but what a drag

Remember when I moved in apt that had hookups , I was given a dryer so I'd wash in apt washateria and take them to apt to dry was great , air fluff was my iron that and hanging clothes in bathroom and turning on hot shower

Didn't have phone , didn't have cable but had a dryer and was happy to have it , life changer

I was in my 20s at this time , was barely making it but was fun time of life

 

[Galbreath34]

No clothes in school would level the playing field.

 

[crosswatt]

I think it's far more ridiculous that people are too helpless to just wash their gym uniforms by hand. It literally would take less than a minute or two to wash it then wait for it to dry.

Many of the people who need assistance don't have money for laundry soap, so the lack of a washing machine is only part of the problem.

 

[Craigj]

Many of the people who need assistance don't have money for laundry soap, so the lack of a washing machine is only part of the problem.

Zote soap made in Mexico. It cost $1 per bar and you can do a month's worth of laundry. Also if you get hungry it makes awesome catfish bait.

 

[crosswatt]

Zote soap made in Mexico. It cost $1 per bar and you can do a month's worth of laundry. Also if you get hungry it makes awesome catfish bait.

Sounds great and all, but that's not entirely what I was saying.

In talking to parents, Gunn discovered that many didn’t have easy access to washing machines. Or if they did have machines, they couldn't always use them because they couldn’t afford detergent, or their electricity had been shut off. For these families, laundry had to take a backseat to more pressing needs such as food and rent.

Not every social issue is correctable with elbow grease and stick–to–itiveness. Sometimes people just need to know that there are actually people out there who give a crap about them, and are willing to give of their time and energy to help them, and expect nothing from them in return.

Hope feeds the soul, and a lack of it can completely destroy the will to try. I'd rather offer hope where I can, and support those who do so wherever they may be.

 

[JimEverett]

IDK, at what point do we stop? And I disagree about education budgets being able to support it. In some states, La., Ks., & Pa come to mind, those budgets have been gutted over the last number of years. Now you'd add another unfunded school benefit?

IMHO, it would be easier to set a living wage so that parents can work a single job which would allow them to provide healthcare, electricity, and basic necessities to their family. Otherwise, we may eventually wind up with boarding schools so that kids had beds and toothbrushes.



I think semantically you may be accurate. Still it would have little to do with the actual point of the discussion.

I am not necessarily against a living wage or a guaranteed annual income. But I don't think that solves problems like this because I don't see how you force people to spend that money in a way that you, I, or others deem "responsible."

 

[Tapxe]

I am not necessarily against a living wage or a guaranteed annual income. But I don't think that solves problems like this because I don't see how you force people to spend that money in a way that you, I, or others deem "responsible."

I think you are projecting the problem to be much larger than it likely would be. Yes, there will be irresponsible people. If those people are endangering their children, then the same programs which have existed for decades in this country could deal with that. However, if more people are making a living wage, chances are someone else in the village can step up and care about that child too since they'd have more time and resources.

 

[Shemp]

No clothes in school would level the playing field.

For the showers maybe, but not for the growers.

 

[JimEverett]

I think you are projecting the problem to be much larger than it likely would be. Yes, there will be irresponsible people. If those people are endangering their children, then the same programs which have existed for decades in this country could deal with that. However, if more people are making a living wage, chances are someone else in the village can step up and care about that child too since they'd have more time and resources.

No doubt it would be better, I think. But I think you would still have issues, but like you say, it would allow neighbors and others the flexibility to maybe take time and resources out to help.

 

[JimEverett]

I think some of the reaction to donato's comments are interesting.
There is a prevailing notion in this country and throughout much of the western industrialized world that things are evidence of success. It is essentially what keeps the economy going. More than that, the push for having everything in your individual house is largely what keeps the 1% at the 1% level.
Community laundries, including laundries at school are one of the many enemies of the 1%. that is why there must be a lot of social pressure to make you think that being respectable, non-loser, etc. requires your own personal laundry machine in your house to be used by 2, 3, or 4 people as opposed to a community wash that might have 1 machine for every 150 people or something.
And of course, god forbid if you didn't even need a machine at all to do your laundry - the horror!

 

[Tapxe]

I think some of the reaction to donato's comments are interesting.
There is a prevailing notion in this country and throughout much of the western industrialized world that things are evidence of success. It is essentially what keeps the economy going. More than that, the push for having everything in your individual house is largely what keeps the 1% at the 1% level.
Community laundries, including laundries at school are one of the many enemies of the 1%. that is why there must be a lot of social pressure to make you think that being respectable, non-loser, etc. requires your own personal laundry machine in your house to be used by 2, 3, or 4 people as opposed to a community wash that might have 1 machine for every 150 people or something.
And of course, god forbid if you didn't even need a machine at all to do your laundry - the horror!

But isn't that the American dream? The upward mobility and ability to achieve more. To live better and better through working?

To fold and say it's ok to allow 1% of the nation to have all the modern conveniences of life and more while everyone else continues to spend days in menial labor instead goes 100% contrary to the stated goal of that American Dream. It is frankly un-American to do such.

 

[JimEverett]

But isn't that the American dream? The upward mobility and ability to achieve more. To live better and better through working?

To fold and say it's ok to allow 1% of the nation to have all the modern conveniences of life and more while everyone else continues to spend days in menial labor instead goes 100% contrary to the stated goal of that American Dream. It is frankly un-American to do such.

I don't think having a washing machine in my house is part of any dream. It's a manufactured dream. Advertising is a necessity for our economic system. Without manipulating our "dreams" we wouldn't buy very much.

 

[Tapxe]

I don't think having a washing machine in my house is part of any dream. It's a manufactured dream. Advertising is a necessity for our economic system. Without manipulating our "dreams" we wouldn't buy very much.

I don't know your background, but I've lived without local laundry facilities. It's very time consuming and winds up costing you much more over time. Back in 2002 I lived without and went to a local laundry. It was 2$ per load to wash not counting detergent and another .75$ for the dryer. Add in gas, vehicle maint, and time loading stuff up to haul there it would easily be 8$ per trip. 52 trips a year = 416$.

A low end washer/dryer set could be bought for that and last several years. To do it by hand would probably be less expensive, but again that is time you cannot spend doing something else. It's taking away from the American Dream. Ignoring that is disingenuous at best.